


Sphallolalia

by steelrunner



Series: Verbosity [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Cadet Sendak, Drabble, Drunken Flirting, Fantastic Racism, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, Soft Lotor (Voltron), Trapped, Truth Serum, implied mutual pining, or at least an alien drug that makes you equally mouthy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 16:09:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20914868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelrunner/pseuds/steelrunner
Summary: “You’re pretty,” Lotor said.===Sphallolalia - Flirtatious talk that leads nowhere.





	Sphallolalia

**Author's Note:**

> I know it goes against canon for Sendak and Lotor to have grown up and trained together, but I want it _so badly. _

This wasn’t a worst-case scenario. Sendak made plans for worst-case scenarios: long, careful, thought-out plans that displayed all the initiative a rising cadet in the Imperial army needed to. This situation had gone so, so far past a worst-case scenario.

“You’re pretty,” Lotor said.

The two of them were sheltering in a muddy, low-ceilinged cave, its small entrance mostly hidden from the outside by an enormous and dense thornbush; beyond that, rain poured down in huge quantities, the acidic drops sparking and hissing as it hit the waxy plant life. Lotor was curled up against Sendak’s side, absent-mindedly playing with Sendak’s mane.

Sendak had planned for worst-case scenarios. He’d never planned to be trapped on a grimy mudball of a planet, fleeing from a small army of alien barbarians, all while protecting a bastard prince who was higher than a _ kyravi _ from the poisoned weapons of said barbarians. 

“You’re hallucinating,” Sendak said. Not for the first time, but who was counting? “Close your eyes and rest. The drug will wear off faster if you sleep it off.”

Lotor twirled a lock of Sendak’s fur around his finger, still staring up at him. His pupils were blown wide, nearly obscuring his iris altogether, and his face was flushed - obviously the drug had been meant to agitate, not pacify. “I mean it. You’re ex - exq - ”

Sendak sighed. “Exquisite?”

“_Yes _,” Lotor said. “That’s the word.” He leaned further into Sendak. His fingers pushed deeper into Sendak’s fur, combing through it in a way that sent shivers down Sendak’s spine. Sendak jerked away automatically, and Lotor pouted.

“Is there a reason you’re only trying to proposition me when you’re not in your right mind?” Sendak said.

“Because you hate me,” Lotor said matter-of-factly. He didn’t seem bothered by the statement at all, and kept stroking Sendak’s fur.

Sendak scoffed. “I don’t hate you.”

“You do.” 

“Hating you would be treason,” Sendak countered, trying for a jesting tone. “Your father would have me executed.”

Lotor pulled back as though stung, and his expression twisted up. “As if he wouldn’t _ thank _ you.”

Sendak blinked, not following Lotor’s reaction. “What?”

“Don’t lie to me.” Lotor’s voice wavered, showing genuine distress over this imagined conflict, but maybe also at the distant realization that he was showing it in front of another cadet. It would have been shameful for any warrior in their right mind. Yet all Sendak could feel was pity - a strange sort, as if seeing Lotor’s vulnerability had exposed some of his own. And alarm, because Lotor’s voice was slowly rising past its previous murmur. “Stop pretending and just say it to my face - !”

He tried to stand, legs shaking, and Sendak hastily reached up to tug him back down. Lotor collapsed into Sendak’s lap, and Sendak clamped his hand over Lotor’s mouth. “_ Hush _, you understand? If those barbarians hear you, there’s no telling what they’ll do when they catch us. Especially to you.”

Lotor twisted in Sendak’s grip, but he settled after a moment, slumping against him. Sendak tried to ignore the feverish heat his body was giving off - so much that he could feel it quite palpably through the fabric of his jumpsuit - and dropped his hand. Lotor immediately pressed his face into Sendak’s neck. Sendak tried another tactic. “...I don’t hate you.”

Lotor was quiet, but he shivered and pressed his face more firmly into Sendak’s neck. Against his better judgement, Sendak tightened his arm around Lotor’s waist, holding him closer. “I mean that. You’re…”

Unpredictable. Untrustworthy. Unsafe - how many conspiracies and assassination plots formed in the wake of the crown prince of the Galra Empire? When he had first arrived at the Academy, he’d been an enigma: never explaining or denying his clearly part-Galran heritage, alternately worshipped and reviled by the other cadets, never paying attention to any of them - even to Sendak, who was considered the foremost student besides him. Dangerous. Clever. Captivating…

“You are my brother-in-arms, regardless of who your father is. So no, I don’t hate you.” He sighed again. “And I will not let you get yourself killed on this backwater planet.” 

Lotor held still. “You won’t?”

“Yes.” Despite Lotor’s stillness, Sendak could still feel his hands trembling where they were braced against Sendak’s chest. The drug must be burning off. If Sendak recalled the common side effects they had learned correctly, there was a good chance Lotor wouldn’t even recall this episode once the drug wore off fully.

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Sendak said. 

The rain drummed on down on the roof of the cave, and Lotor’s hand was small and warm in his own, their fingers twined together.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mistlethace) or [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/mistlethace).


End file.
